Tavoyan Women's Union 

Dawei, Burma 

Vision: Our vision is to build a society of peace, justice, freedom and equality in Burma.

Mission: 

- To achieve equality in accordance with the integral rights of every women.

- To expand and improve women’s participation and capacity in our society.

- To achieve security, peace and development of women’s lives.

Long-term objectives of our work: 

- To raise awareness of equal access to justice. To speak out about equal opportunity, including of ownership of land and other forms of property.

- To build a society of peace and to promote women and youth participation in Burma’s peace process.

- To decrease violence against women. 

- To raise awareness on understanding of family planning, reproductive health and protection from HIV/AIDS. 

Marlar, Joint General Secretary: 

"The Tavoyan Women's Union was founded in 1995 in order to fight the injustices being carried out against people living in the Tanintharyi region of southern Burma. Here, land grabs happen frequently and serve to enrich the military and their cronies - the Tavoyan people are rarely sufficiently compensated and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) bring nothing but human rights abuses and environmental destruction. Our work teaches women and their families their rights and gives them the tools to be able to fight for justice. We have joined with 12 other NGOs who are part of the Network for Human Rights Documentation to demand justice from our government as we have seen in our region that as long as human rights abuses are ignored, they do not stop."